Loomis Wrestling finished second out of eight teams at its own LC Holiday Duals yesterday, December 10, accruing a record of 3 wins and 1 loss in the process. The full results of tournament are listed below.

On the whole, it was a strong early season performance from the whole team—including both veteran and brand-new wrestlers. In fact, our very first match, against Trinity Pawling, came down to a series of dominant lightweight performances by one of our most senior wrestlers and two of our youngest. After going down 18-0 in the first three matches, LC pulled ahead with Andrew Segal’s first-minute fall at 220, which was followed in quick succession by pins at 106, 113, and 120 (Kyle Douglas, Ed Smutharaks, and Nate Cleveland). This was the first varsity match for both Kyle and Ed, and particular note has to be made of Ed’s performance here. Using technique he’d just seen on Thursday, he scored the first takedown of the match with a series of quick direction-changes leading to a go-behind. After a minute or so of working to pry open a clammed up TP wrestler, Ed finished the match with a tight half nelson and a look of pure surprise.

The second match, against Brunswick, was clinched by a series of predictably strong performances—falls by Sam Broda, Zach Harris, Nathan Harris, Nate Cleveland (in only 0:29 seconds), and Will Fierston—as well as two nail-biters. Kyle Douglas put in his first full-match performance at 106, pushing a solid Brunswick grappler to a score of 13-12. And Peter Falsey pulled out a narrow decision after a very determined third period and a last-minute takedown. The final score: 41-36.

Although we beat Exeter soundly (60-20), they’re suffering from an atrophied lightweight contingent and had to forfeit five matches (that’s 30 points). Head to head, we won five matches to Exeter’s four, including a great showing by freshman 220-pounder David Harrison, wrestling up at 285. Likewise, after a frustrating day of great shots and near-finishes, Alex Smith finished pool play with an early second-period fall. Zach Harris (0:44 seconds), Sam Broda, and Will Fierston also recorded falls.

We all expected our final match of the day, against NMH, to be a significant early-season challenge, and it lived up to our expectations. Although NMH eventually pulled out a 48-36 victory, it was a close match throughout. Sam Broda and Zach Harris led off the scoring with two solid pins at 145 and 152, and Kyle Douglas (106) and Nate Cleveland (120) gave us two more pins late in the match. (NMH forfeited 113, and there was a double forfeit at 285.) Alex Smith (132) went up 4-0 in his match after a very smooth early period takedown and Ben Pipernos fought hard against an tough final opponent at 138.

We see all of this as a very positive start. We were pinned too frequently and for mostly preventable reasons (reaching back, keeping our heads on the mat, not fighting for hand control), and that, more than anything, needs to stop. Giving up three or four points in a dual meet is very different from giving up six. We also need to finish our moves. Several of our wrestlers are executing beautiful half-takedowns and then stopping just shy of scoring any points. Which is obviously not how we want to wrestle.

But, on the whole, we have a good sense of how we need to improve, and in the past two weeks, your wrestlers have evinced a willingness to work hard for their goals. And because of their strong, but not strong-enough showing, they left the weekend hungry—which is not a bad place to be at this point in the season. Congratulations to our returning wrestlers on several very strong performances, and to our new wrestlers on their first varsity matches. Good work, boys.

Senior Zechariah Harris placed fifth in the 182-pound weight class at the Prep National Wrestling Tournament at Lehigh University on Saturday, surpassing his No. 9 seed in the tournament and becoming Loomis Chaffee's first All-American wrestler since his older brother, Caleb Harris '11, carried the mantle in 2011.

Ten Loomis Chaffee wrestlers competed in the New England Prep Championships on Saturday at Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts. By the time the final match ended, Loomis had advanced six grapplers to the Prep National Championship at Lehigh University.

Loomis welcomed 12 teams to the Island on Saturday for the Class A Wrestling Tournament. The event, which started at 9 a.m., was a tight battle through the last pairing at 6 p.m. After the dust settled and the points were tallied, the Pelicans emerged victorious. Loomis claimed the title with a one-point margin over No. 2 Choate, 199-198.